RESUMO
Turnaround time (TAT) is commonly defined as the time from when a test is ordered until the result is reported. TAT is often considered the most significant measure of a laboratory’s service and is used by many clinicians to judge its quality. Timely reporting of laboratory test results is now considered an important aspect of the services provided by the clinical laboratory. It has also been shown that outcomes in certain situations such as operation theaters and in emergency departments have been affected by timely reporting of lab tests results. Rapid laboratory turnaround times are important both from a medical and commercial point of view. The study was conducted from 1 April 2013 to 31 May 2013. Out of total 232 samples, 183 samples (78.88%) were taken for analysis. 100 (54.65%) samples were within TAT time and 83 (45.35 %) samples were delayed. Out of total 83 samples which were delayed, 48 (57.83%) samples had TAT between 60 minutes to 90 minutes, 22 (26.51%) samples had TAT between 90 minutes to 120 minutes, 9 (10.84%) samples had TAT between 120 minutes to 180 minutes, and 4 (4.82%) samples had TAT over 180 minutes. Average time between sample collection and lab reach was observed to be 15 min. 38 sec. Transport delay was observed. Instrumentation failure was observed in biochemistry - 2 times and thyroid - 1 time. Hence this study aims to evaluate the delay and reason of delay of turnaround time (TAT) of stat tests in section of clinical chemistry of the clinical laboratory.
RESUMO
Turnaround time (TAT) is commonly defined as the time from when a test is ordered until the result is reported. TAT is often considered the most significant measure of a laboratory’s service and is used by many clinicians to judge its quality. Timely reporting of laboratory test results is now considered an important aspect of the services provided by the clinical laboratory. It has also been shown that outcomes in certain situations such as operation theaters and in emergency departments have been affected by timely reporting of lab tests results. Rapid laboratory turnaround times are important both from a medical and commercial point of view. The study was conducted from 1 April 2013 to 31 May 2013. Out of total 232 samples, 183 samples (78.88%) were taken for analysis. 100 (54.65%) samples were within TAT time and 83 (45.35 %) samples were delayed. Out of total 83 samples which were delayed, 48 (57.83%) samples had TAT between 60 minutes to 90 minutes, 22 (26.51%) samples had TAT between 90 minutes to 120 minutes, 9 (10.84%) samples had TAT between 120 minutes to 180 minutes, and 4 (4.82%) samples had TAT over 180 minutes. Average time between sample collection and lab reach was observed to be 15 min. 38 sec. Transport delay was observed. Instrumentation failure was observed in biochemistry - 2 times and thyroid - 1 time. Hence this study aims to evaluate the delay and reason of delay of turnaround time (TAT) of stat tests in section of clinical chemistry of the clinical laboratory.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Asan Medical Center ran a fully automated outpatient laboratory to serve outpatient departments with a rapid turnaround time (TAT; one hour from reception to reporting) for frequently requested test items and thus to make `one stop service' possible. As the number of samples increased, the TAT gradually became longer and eventually showed over one hour for almost all items. METHODS: In October 1998, reorganization of the outpatient laboratory took place. Newly introduced were a priority system for samples, a plasma separate tube instead of the serum separate tube, an on-line simultaneous sample reception system at the time of sampling, and a real-time monitoring system for TAT. RESULTS: With the sample priority system, samples processed for one stop service were 61.0% (476 priority samples out of 780 total samples) for routine hematology, 59.2% (527 out of 890) for routine chemistry, 40.1% (122 out of 304) for urinalysis, 43.2% (89 out of 206) for coagulation tests, and 47.9% (75 out of 157) for diabetic tests. We monitored samples processed as `one stop service' with the real time monitoring system for TAT; among the samples processed as such, 80.1% of rou-tine hematology, 91.9% of routine chemistry, 99.5% of urinalysis, 92.6% of coagulation tests, and 97.6% of diabetic tests showed TAT less than one hour. Average TAT, from the specimen acquisition to the reporting, decreased dramatically after introduction of the system. Average TAT of routine hematology decreased to 53.9 minutes, routine chemistry to 54.6 minutes, urinalysis to 35.2 minutes, coagulation tests to 46.6 minutes, and diabetic tests to 31.9 minutes. And the patient satisfaction index for the outpatient laboratory rose 15% from 81% to 96%. CONCLUSIONS: The outpatient laboratory of AMC shortened the TAT substantially without sacrificing quality and fully met the needs of patients and clinicians after reorganization.